We're in the dog days of hockey's offseason, although while NHL teams are running development camps with eyes on NHL Rookie Tournaments scheduled for early September, the PWHL is heading into more than three more months before teams officially hit the ice again. It gives the league plenty of time to figure out schedules, venues, team names and logos, staffing, special events, preseason format, and many other items that came last minute, or not at all in year one, in preparation for a bigger and better year two.
The product on the ice will certainly be higher than it was last year, and that's the main carrot dangling for fans who are enduring a longer than normal offseason alongside the players.
Here's what we're hearing and seeing from around the PWHL this week:
Some Draft Pick Negotiations Remain Slow
In the opening days and weeks of PWHL free agency, we saw several teams lock in their top picks, with Toronto (Julia Gosling), Boston (Hannah Bilka), and Montreal (Cayla Barnes) signing their first round picks, and Boston (Daniela Pejsova), Minnesota (Britta Curl), New York (Maja Nylen Persson), Montreal (Jennifer Gardiner), and Toronto (Megan Carter) all signing their second round picks as well. But there are many picks including the top three players selected in the draft - Sarah Fillier, Danielle Serdachny, and Claire Thompson - who remain unsigned. There are many later round picks who will need to wait until training camp to secure their contracts, but with others, it's a combination of money and term.
Converse the NHL, it sounds as though teams are pushing for longer term (three years) and players are wanting shorter term (two years) in order to capitalize financially on the open market once the guaranteed three year contracts for players signed last year expire. The other issue, as it sounds, is that despite the minimum salary scale set for players picked in the opening three rounds, some players still unsigned are requesting more than double the $50,000 minimum salary for first round picks. It's hard to blame these players who are looking at rookies who signed in the league last year who are less talented, but making significantly more than what rookies are being offered this year. The financial negotiations have differed from team to team and round to round as there are players who have signed from rounds two and three making more than currently signed first round picks.
Talks are progressing with some picks, and there is no rush, but there also isn't the money available that some players have requested, at no fault of their own...and teams want the valuable players they picked locked for as long as possible...at no fault of their own.
European Camps Are Underway
Czechia and Sweden have already opened their summer national team camps. "I think that for most of us it was the first ice since the end of the previous season... it's definitely great to train like this," Michaela Pejzlova said about Czechia's camp. Pejzlova chose not to come to the PWHL this season instead opting for Switzerland, but will be a top pick when she does declare. Czechia's camp features several PWHL players including Tereza Vanisova, Daniela Pejsova, Denisa Krisova, Aneta Tejralova, Noemi Neubaurova, Klara Hymlarova, and Katerina Mrazova. One name absent in Czechia is Dominika Laskova who continues to rehab her lower body injury that kept her out of PWHL Montreal's lineup for the majority of the inaugural season. In Sweden, for the first time outside Emma Soderberg in the crease, there are a number of PWHL bound players in camp as well including Maja Nylen Persson and Anna Kjellbin. One player many PWHL teams will be eyeing, Hanna Olsson is absent. Sweden is set to face Ohio State in a three games series this month.
No New Trademarks Registered, Yet
The PWHL has yet to register any additional trademarks for team names. When the PWHL season ended, the league had filed 31 trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and 66 total globally including filings in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Today, those numbers remain unchanged. After the league's initial six team name filings (Boston Wicked, Minnesota Superior, Montreal Echo, Ottawa Alert, Toronto Torch) were spotted this summer, the league learned their lesson when it came to the Walter Cup. Those trademarked names (yes, names plural because the league also trademarked the Samantha Walter Cup), were filed the same day the league announced the Walter Cup itself, leaving little margin for the name to leak. Since the league has promised new branding including team nicknames and logos, would be coming in August, the clock is ticking. Whether it's the original names or something new, we'll know soon enough.
PWHL Continues Hiring
There are obviously a few larger roles being filled this offseason. New York hired a brand new coaching staff including head coach Greg Fargo. The PWHL is also hiring for a new general manager in Minnesota. At the league level, the PWHL is currently searching for a Social Responsibility Director, and other roles including a job for a goalie coach and video coach in Boston, social media coordinators, video production, and, team communications managers are all being hired for. Too look at all of the PWHL's job listings, you can CLICK HERE .
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